The bandwidth requirements of modern and future automotive applications are posing a relevant challenge to current in-vehicle networking, IVN, technologies such as Controller Area Network (CAN) and FlexRay. Thanks to the latest development of the Ethernet technology, a 100 Mbps Ethernet link can now be implemented and in near future a 1000 Mbps/1 Gbps Ethernet link will be implementable on an unshielded twisted pair of copper wires while limiting the EMI emissions below the threshold imposed by the regulatory automotive standards. The 100 Mbps Ethernet link over an unshielded twisted pair of copper wires is also referred to as 100Base-T1 and the 1000 Mbps/1 Gbps Ethernet link over an unshielded twisted pair of copper wires is also referred to as 1000Base-T1.
Ethernet is a point-to-point communication technology. More complex networks are created by using layer 2 (according to the ISO/OSI stack) bridges (also called switches). Switches enable the definition of complex network topologies and offer many services including the basic relying of frames (the basic Ethernet communication element) from one source node to multiple destinations, and more complex operations such as channel bandwidth allocation, network partitioning via virtual LANs (VLANs) and traffic prioritization. Switched Ethernet networks have been implemented in the automotive market for supporting bandwidth-intensive applications such as infotainment and surround-view applications.
The coming 1 Gbps Ethernet link will allow to interconnect further domains of automotive electronic units including for example powertrain domain, chassis domain, body and comfort domain and driver assistance and safety domain.
It is expected that switched 1 Gbps Ethernet link will be used for a backbone interconnecting different domains whereas within each of the domains 100 Mbps Ethernet links and 1000 Mbps/1 Gbps Ethernet links will be used dependent on the bandwidth requirement. Hence, 100 Mbps Ethernet links and 1000 Mbps/1 Gbps Ethernet links are expected to coexist.
Accordingly, there is a need for Ethernet transceivers supporting both 100 Mbps Ethernet links and 1000 Mbps/1 Gbps Ethernet links meeting the constraints of power efficiency and cost effectiveness.